Conversation

4 December 2002 at 7pm


Sorbonne

Guizot amphitheatre

 

 

 

 

 

 

bibliography


Audio extract
(1h01min)

All rights reserved

 

The full transcript of the interview, together with a selective bibliography on The God of Small Things, was published in English by Études britanniques contemporaines: Gallix, François, Vanessa Guignery and Catherine Pesso-Miquel. “Arundhati Roy at the Sorbonne. 4^th December 2002.” Etudes britanniques contemporaines 23 (Déc.2002): 149-166.

           On Wednesday December 4^th 2002, the Sorbonne was pleased and honoured to welcome the Indian novelist Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things, which was on the syllabus for the Agrégation competitive exam in 2002/2003. This meeting was organized by the Ercla Research Center and had the backing of the Department of English run by Mr.Pierre Cotte, the Doctoral School IV and the Scientific Council of Paris-IV Sorbonne, the Society of English Contemporary Studies (SEAC), and the Gallimard editions. The meeting attracted a large audience: students and teachers from Paris IV and other universities sat together with faithful readers of Arundhati Roy, editors (Gallimard, Le Seuil, Christian Bourgois, Mallard editions), translators and journalists. Mrs Marie-Christine Lemardeley Cunci, President of the Agrégation, Mr.Dominique Girard, Ambassador of France in India, as well as the British novelist John Berger, were also present and we were honoured to welcome them.

            Arundhati Roy, who received the Booker Prize in the United Kingdom in 1997, is now living in New Delhi (India), she is known worldwide, not only due to the international success of The God of Small Things, but also thanks to her political commitment against nuclear weapons and the construction of dams in India (The Cost of Living, 1999), and for the stands that she takes concerning the American policy in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world (Power Politics, 2002). The meeting with the writer took place in the Amphithéâtre Guizot at the Sorbonne. It went on as an interview between Arundhati Roy, François Gallix, Catherine Pesso-Miquel and Vanessa Guignery. Then a dialogue was established with the public. Arundhati Roy read an extract from The God of Small Things, and answered questions about her readings as a child, the structure of the novel, the repetition process, the linguistic games, the taboo of incest, the relations between the different castes and the relation to the past. The writer also reiterated her political commitments with strength and much conviction.

Orders for the issues of Etudes britanniques contemporaines can be sent to Service des Publications, Montpellier III, Route de Mende, 34199 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. (email : publications@univ-montp.3.fr). The issue costs 10 euros (approximately 10 $).